Out of Luck
by Dumbledone
Summary: Harry, Ron and Hermione get away with everything - until they don't. Read what happens when Hogwarts takes a more traditional stance on punishment. Cannon compliant snapshots of Harry's first couple of years at school. Warning, contains CP of children.
1. Eavesdropping

Harry sat, perched in his tree in the Forbidden forest, twenty feet above where Snape was stood. Both watching the back of Professor Quirrell's turbaned head disappear back towards the castle. That had been a dramatic turn of events.

Harry was glad he had decided to follow the professors, sure as he was that their conversation was going to be interesting. He thought briefly that Hermione wouldn't have approved of him following their teachers like this, but even she had set fire to Snape's robes, so he felt she didn't have much of a leg to stand on.

The Gryffindor felt a bit sorry for Quirrell. Snape was scary enough when he just didn't like you, let alone having him drag you into the forbidden forest to threaten you.

Snape was still standing where he had been, and Harry was starting to hope that the man would just get on with it and head back to the castle. Harry was more certain than ever that Snape was trying to get the stone from the third floor. Harry had to do something to help stop him.

Snape started to walk down the path and Harry relaxed, relieving the cramp that was threatening to take over his left foot. In doing so, he accidentally dislodged a flurry of pine needles, which pattered down onto the path and worse, a small spiny creature, which Harry had been keeping an eye on for the last 10 minutes.

Snape spun on the spot to stare up into the trees as the little woody creature scuttled past him on spiny legs, grumbling. He spotted Harry almost instantly, as it was rather hard to hide in bright red robes, with a seven foot broomstick once somebody already knew you were there.

"Get. Down. Now." Snape's voice carried easily, and the tone was fearsome to the eleven year old.

Harry mounted his broomstick with little trouble, despite the branches pressing in on him from above. Kicking off was a little trickier but he managed to descend at a reasonable pace and landed himself, slightly shaking, a good few meters away from the angry man.

Of course, this made no difference to Snape, who strode forwards as soon as Harry had dismounted and loomed over the boy, eyes furious. He held out a hand expectantly, and Harry stared for a moment, before offering the broom, not sure that that was what the Professor was expecting. Snape pulled it roughly out of his hands, and Harry shrunk back another meter, out of necessary caution.

Snape's expression didn't falter.

"Follow me."

Snape whirled around and began to march away. Harry stared for a second, before having to jog after the man, whose much longer legs carried him away quickly. Harry's breath hitched slightly. He couldn't believe he had been caught in the Forbidden forest! He only hoped that Snape wasn't going to chop him up into pieces or transfigure him into something horrible, since he knew Harry had heard him threatening Quirrell.

Hopefully, the man would just take him to Professor McGonagall. But even then, his head of house was strictly no-nonsense. What if she banned him from the Quidditch team? Or if she took away the broom? Snape wouldn't have to do a thing, Oliver would happily murder Harry.

They entered the castle, and several late-returning students stared as their Potions professor swept past them with a broomstick, followed by a scurrying first year – Harry Potter, no less.

The two of them passed scores of Slytherin students on their way down to wherever their common room was. Thankfully, Harry didn't recognise any first years, Malfoy would have had a field day if he had seen Harry being escorted to Snape's office. They passed the potions classroom, and Harry was deeper into the dungeons than he had been before. Including once when he had been lost in the first few weeks and Peeves had 'helped' him.

Snape stopped suddenly in front of a closed door, and Harry had to make a sharp stop to avoid jogging into the man's back.

The Slytherin tapped the door with his wand, and pushed it open, gesturing Harry forwards with the Nimbus. Harry walked past the man with some trepidation.

The office was quite large, and Harry elected to stand in front of the main desk, head down. Snape leant the broom against his desk and walked towards the fireplace, giving Harry the chance to examine his surroundings.

The office was gloomy, lit only by some oil lamps, and the large fireplace, it obviously belonged to Snape. The desk was tidy, with sharp stacks of students' essays. There were bookcases around the walls, and a high shelf with greasy jars of potions ingredients. Harry grimaced and went back to staring at the desk.

There was a loud whooshing noise and the room turned green. Harry spun around, alarmed, and saw that the fire itself had changed colour, to bright emerald flames. He shouted in warning as Snape bent down and stuck his head into the fire!

There was the muffled sound of speech, but no shout of pain. A few moments later, Snape emerged, unharmed. He raised an eyebrow at the expression of concern on the first year's face, and then made a noise of understanding when Harry looked even more horrified by a body emerging from the fireplace.

"Floo travel, Potter." He said, drawing Harry's reluctant attention. "Perfectly safe, so long as you remember to use the powder beforehand."

Harry was shocked by the development, but understood when it was obvious Professor McGonagall had been the one to come through the fireplace. She looked alright too, although a little sooty.

"What can I help you with, Professor Snape?" McGonagall asked, looking between Snape and Harry. "You did not call me here for a practical demonstration of the Hogwarts Floo, surely? Why is Potter still in his quidditch robes?"

Harry held his tongue, sure that if he spoke, Snape would just tell him to shut up anyway.

"Potter thought it would be intelligent to follow me after the Quidditch match in order to eavesdrop on a conversation between myself and Professor Quirrell."

McGonagall quirked a formidable eyebrow in Harry's direction, but didn't interrupt.

"We spoke within the bounds of the Forest, and Potter had decided to hide himself in a Bowtruckle's Larch, where he had flown."

"Did it attack you?" She looked slightly concerned.

Harry shook his head, mutely.

"He must have been watching it, it fell out of the tree when he disturbed it."

Snape and McGonagall shared a look between them, before the witch sighed.

"Have it your way, Severus." She turned to Harry. "Potter, why did you follow Professor Snape?"

Harry blinked at the witch he trusted, and then at the man he didn't. He couldn't very well say that he'd thought the man was going to attack Quirrell and that he was trying to steal the Philosophers stone. Not in front of the man who had cursed him in front of a whole quidditch stadium, anyway.

"I… just wondered where he was going?"

"Liar." Snape growled, unfolding his arms, and turning to his desk, searching for something.

Harry looked at him in confusion. Wasn't he going to demand further explanation? McGonagall was.

"Potter?"

"I… He… I thought he might…" Harry stopped, realising they were both staring at him. "I wanted to know why he was going to the forest by himself." He finished lamely.

"Why?"

Snape had found what he was looking for, he had a large school ledger in his hands, and was staring levelly at Harry.

Harry felt angry all of a sudden, and his self-preservation evaporated. "Because I thought you were going to hurt Quirrell. Because you've threatened him before – I've seen you. And then you chased him in there."

Snape's face tightened and then relaxed, he looked up at the ceiling as if praying for patience. To Harry's consternation, McGonagall didn't even look surprised.

"Well, it's obvious why you are a Gryffindor." Snape said exasperatedly, and McGonagall didn't protest.

"Potter, if you still have concerns later, please come to me." She said. "You must understand that both Professor Dumbledore and I trust Professor Snape implicitly and it is not your place to investigate your teachers."

"Yes Professor." Harry couldn't agree less, and his voice was suspiciously flat. Both of his teachers gave him a stern look.

"Professor Snape will be in charge of your punishment, as it is he who apprehended you." She glanced at Snape. "Severus, recall he is a first year, and muggle raised."

"How could I forget?" Snape said, unconcerned. "Thank you for your time, we had best be getting on."

McGonagall nodded and after throwing what looked like a handful of sand into the fire, vanished into the green flames. Harry stared, but was brought back into the moment by Snape clearing his throat.

Harry reluctantly looked back at the man, who was now leaning back against his desk, that large book still in his hands.

"Sir?"

Snape regarded him for a long moment, until Harry started to shuffle his feet nervously.

"Potter you understand the concept of corporal punishment?"

Harry blinked at the man, clueless.

"Physical punishment?" Snape tried. He nodded, as Harry's eyes widened from internal panic.

"Although uncommon in the muggle world as of late, it has long been practiced in both muggle and wizarding schools. Hogwarts is no different, and we have a formalised way of dealing with the issue."

"Nobody's mentioned it." Harry said, mouth dry. "Well, Filch…"

"Only Heads of Houses, at their discretion, are permitted to enact corporal punishment. Mr Filch's views are somewhat historically inaccurate and not condoned under any circumstance."

"Oh." Harry blinked, nervous. He had questions to ask, but they all felt embarrassing and he couldn't put them into words if he had tried.

"This type of punishment is reserved for those who are severely out of bounds, for using magic in a deliberate, or carelessly harmful way, or for being repeatedly out after curfew. Other rule breaking is punished in the ways you have experienced so far, with detentions and housepoints."

Snape seemed to be waiting for a response, so Harry managed a quiet 'yes, sir'.

"These punishments are recorded in this book," Snape held the ledger up. "Which automatically updates in each copy held by the other Housemasters and the master copy, in Professor Dumbedore's office. You will be asked to sign to acknowledge each punishment and may go to any member of staff if you are concerned over 'unfairness'."

That sounded… reasonable. Harry thought reluctantly. It didn't make him any happier about it, but at least Snape couldn't beat the hell out of him without him being able to do anything. His next thought was that Aunt Marge, Vernon's horrible sister, would have a field day if she knew about this. His spirits fell even further.

"Any Head of house may use a cane to administer punishment."

Harry's stomach dropped at the word being dropped so casually. He was sure his face fell too, which he wouldn't have thought possible.

"Apart from Professor McGonagall who prefers the school strap."

Harry nodded, wide eyed, although he had no idea what one of those was and didn't ever want to find out.

"Professor Dumbledore will refer you to your head of house."

That lifted a weight Harry hadn't known was there. Somehow the thought of Dumbledore beating students was so much worse than Snape doing it. Harry wasn't sure how he would feel if Sprout or Flitwick wanted to cane him- probably horribly embarrassed. They had never given him so much as a detention however so he was sure Snape and McGonagall were going to be the main threat.

Snape walked over to the edge of the room, to where two bookcases nearly met, and pulled out a long stick from the gap between them. It was thin wood, which looked like bamboo, except not quite, and with a curved handle. Harry felt his heart thumping in his chest, and his face go bright red.

Snape watched Harry cautiously, not moving back to the desk until Harry had started breathing again. He put the cane down with a click.

Snape opened the front cover of the ledger, and turned a few pages. He lifted a quill from next to his marking and began to make a new entry in the book. After a moment he turned, holding the quill out to Harry expectantly.

Harry swallowed and had to force his legs to move forwards. Glancing across the page, he realised that it was full of Gryffindors, and had their house crest at the top. He recognised the Weasley twins names next to each other, but Snape clicked his tongue impatiently and Harry had to focus on his own name.

'Harry Potter, 1st year', it said. Then, 'Out of bounds, FYW', and the date in the second column.

There was a lot of space left along the row.

"What does F-Y-W mean, Sir?" Harry managed to ask, quill hovering over the page.

"First year warning."

Warning didn't sound so bad, Harry thought, signing.

"I should perhaps clarify that it is a practical demonstration." The man added.

"Uh." Harry had already signed, although there wasn't much he could have done about it anyway. He dithered for a moment, before handing the quill back to Snape, who took it, looking slightly amused.

"If you would bend over the desk." Snape indicated a space he had cleared.

Harry stayed frozen, he wanted to know what would happen, before doing that, but couldn't summon the words to ask. "How, er, how many…"

"Once."

"That's it?" Harry blurted, startled.

Snape gave Harry a challenging look, which was met with bewilderment rather than defiance.

"And a detention. It is a warning after all, Potter. There is no such lenience the second time."

Harry thought he could avoid a second time easily enough. Especially with his father's invisibility cloak. He nodded and spun to face the desk, leaning over to rest his forearms.

"Do not get up until I give you leave."

Harry bristled a little at this instruction, it felt unnecessarily embarrassing.

"If there is a repeat of this, and I am not optimistic enough to believe there will not be in the next seven years, I do not wish to do you any harm if you move."

"Sir." Harry ground out.

He felt the length of the cane rest along the backside of his quidditch robes and his muscles tensed unconsciously. Then it was gone and Harry felt his eyes scrunch up, and held his breath.

Crack!

"Ah!" Pain and heat flooded in, exactly along the line where the cane had been resting a moment ago. Harry's eyes stayed scrunched shut, and he forced the rest of his body to remain still as well. There was a click next to him, and Harry opened an eye to see the cane resting innocently on the desk.

"You may stand when you are ready." Snape said mildly.

Harry did so instantly, covering another groan of pain as his body protested. He spun to face Snape who had retreated a little way back, arms crossed yet again.

"For your information, from first to third year, you may receive three to six strokes of the cane, with additional punishments."

Harry nodded at Snape's jaw, unable to meet the man's eyes at the moment.

"Presently, you will collect any belongings from the quidditch pitch, return your broomstick to the shed, and then go directly to your common room. You are expected to attend meals tomorrow, and may go to the library, but only under the direct supervision of a prefect. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

Snape's jaw tensed for a moment, "I am giving you fair warning to not stray out of bounds, Potter. The rest of the student body manages, it should not be an impossible feat for you."

"No, Sir."

Snape paused for a moment, clearly thinking about something. "You will not speak to Professor Quirrell outside of classes. You will not follow him inside or outside of the school."

"What?"

Snape's eyes hardened. Harry was totally bewildered by the instruction. Maybe he didn't want Harry and Quirrell to work together. No matter, Harry already kept his distance, the incense and garlic the man always smelled of gave Harry a terrible headache.

"Fine." Harry said. Snape gave him a look. "Sir."

"Go, then."

Harry vanished out of the door.

"Broomstick, Potter!" Snape called loudly.

Red faced, Harry caught the door neatly before it could close and walked back in to retrieve it. "Thank you, sir." He mumbled, not waiting for a response.


	2. The Dragon

"What were you three thinking? Gadding around the school in the middle of the night!" Snape scowled at all of them, and McGonagall behind him looked severely disappointed. Snape had taken point since it was his office. "All three of you have been warned before about wandering the corridors at night. Mr Potter, I warned you only two weeks ago of the consequences of being out of bounds. And Mr Malfoy, you are certainly aware of the consequences."

Harry squirmed a little. He hadn't forgotten Snape's threats – promises- from when he had been caught in the forest and dragged down to the man's office. Harry didn't even notice how indignant Malfoy was until the boy spoke up.

"Sir, I had to tell someone about it! They had a dragon – they were breaking the rules!"

Snape fixed him with his glare, and Malfoy shut up, dropping his eyes.

"Mr Malfoy, how long have you been aware of this dragon?"

The Slytherin glanced up, wringing his hands. "Two weeks, Sir."

"Two weeks?" Snape raised an eyebrow, "And you found no other suitable opportunity to inform a professor of what you had discovered? It did not cross your mind to knock on my office door as you passed it to apprehend your peers yourself. Rather than _sneaking_ past, knowing that I would have handled the issue in an instant."

Draco bit his lip, and after a moment Snape realised that the boy wasn't going to say anything and thought he might have been making a little progress. Usually this was when the boy tried to invoke his father's name and rank. Malfoy had realised that this wouldn't get him anywhere with his housemaster, and knew that it wouldn't be wise to lose this hand in front of his classmates.

"As it was, your attempt to pull the wool over my eyes was unsuccessful. I was made aware of your absence from your common room, and followed you to the entrance hall, watched as you waited for Potter and Miss Granger to appear and watched you go to Professor McGonagall's office, knowing that she would return you to me, while I dealt with the mess.

Draco had stopped paying attention, and started feeling sorry for himself in earnest. No matter, Snape knew how to put a stop to that.

"Potter and Granger. It is impossible for me to fathom why you thought you would be able to carry a dragon through the school in the middle of the night. It is even more impossible to fathom how three first years – yes, I will be speaking to Mr Weasley about his 'dog bite'- managed to arrange to have it removed from the castle."

Harry and Hermione shared a look, both waiting for the shoe to drop.

"While you were attempting to assist a friend, you must realise that the members of staff at this school work together, given necessary motivation."

Harry looked up, incredulous, thinking that that was very hypocritical coming from the wizard he had watched intimidating Professor Quirrell so recently in the forest. Snape met this look levelly and quirked an eyebrow in challenge. Harry remembered his threats and backed down, ducking his head.

"If any one of you had come forward about this issue before tonight, or had been honest about the cause of Weasley's current condition, then we would not be having this…discussion."

Harry and Malfoy shuddered a little, before throwing each other confused looks. Hermione stared at both of them, clueless.

"All of you get out and wait in the corridor." The potions professor snapped. They hurried out in varying states of distress.

-...-

Snape turned to McGonagall, who had lowered herself into one of the chairs.

"You wish to do the honours?" She asked. "We are in your office after all, and you have a far better understanding of what on earth happened than myself."

Snape grimaced, sitting on the edge of his desk. "I did promise Potter we would have words if he was caught out of bounds again and it has only been a fortnight."

"He has a short attention span." McGonagall smirked. "And Granger? Draco is of course yours to manage as you will."

"I think it would be wise to manage the _four_ of them, if I am to deal with two of them anyway. My main concern is whether I should do so tonight, or tomorrow."

They considered for a moment, absently noting that there was silence from the corridor. The children were too cowed to start a fight as their fates hung in the balance.

"Tomorrow." McGonagall said firmly. "It will do the miscreants no harm to stew overnight and they should be in their beds by all rights, as should we."

"Speak for yourself." Snape groaned, "I have to inform Pomfrey that Weasley doesn't have gangrene, and it is just immature dragon venom. We will heal him immediately."

"So you will see them after breakfast." McGonagall confirmed.

Snape nodded, getting himself up and heading for the door. He stepped out into the corridor and the three first years scrambled to get into a line in front of him.

"I will collect the three of you from the great hall at breakfast tomorrow for your punishment at 7.30. Do not be late." Snape received a 'yes, sir', from each of them and beckoned to Draco, whom he led down the corridor towards Slytherin without another word.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, startled that this was going to be postponed, and not really wanting to leave without knowing their punishment. Hermione looked like she was bursting to say something

McGonagall came out of Snape's doorway, shocking them both into remembering she was there and gave them both a cold look. "Follow me."

They both did, hurrying to keep up with the quick old witch. At least Norbert was safely gone, they thought. Even if Snape and McGonagall had dealt with him in the end.

-...-

Ron Weasley woke up with a muffled shout, wide eyed and scared by the rude awakening from his sleep. The sight of Professor Snape, the scariest professor in school, looming out of the darkness did nothing to reassure him. He scuttled back against the headboard, pulling his covers up to his chest.

Snape rolled his eyes and held out a long fingered, potion's stained hand. "Give me your hand Weasley. I am here to fix your stupidity."

"Sir?"

"Your hand, Weasley. I have something for that bite."

Now Ron looked, he could see that Snape was indeed holding a bowl of some kind of mint green paste in his other hand. It looked soothing somehow, but Ron didn't really trust the man.

"Madame Pomfrey already gave me something, Professor."

"Yes- for a dog bite. You and I and your friends all know that this is not a dog bite."

Ron held his hand out cautiously, it was swollen to twice its normal size, bright red and leaking a dark green fluid. And it was sore! Snape took the hand with surprising gentleness around the wrist, where it was less affected. He put his bowl down on the edge of the bed and began to use a small paintbrush to apply the paste. When he was done, he allowed Ron's hand to rest in the bowl.

"I will return in the morning to collect you for a discussion about lying to your elders, and the consequences of malingering."

"Yes Sir." Ron agreed readily, not really having a clue what he was agreeing to.

Snape nodded, and vanished out of the hospital wing. Ron really hadn't woken up enough so as to struggle in getting back to sleep, and with the burning in his hand totally smothered for the first time in over a week, fell asleep in moments.

-...-

It was 6 o'clock in the morning of the next day, and most Gryffindor students were starting to think about waking up to get prepared for another long Wednesday of classes. Two of their house's youngest members had already been up and dressed for half an hour, and had just met each other in their common room, gloomy and tired.

"Alright, Hermione?" Harry asked his friend. It had only been a few hours since they had made it to bed, having been escorted to the dormitories by their irate head of house.

Hermione gave him a week smile back, "Been better." she said shortly. "Oh Harry, you don't think they'll suspend us, do you?"

 _Only by our ankles_ , Harry thought darkly. "No…"

Hermione still looked worried, and Harry wasn't sure if what he was going to say would help, or make the young witch feel worse.

"Do you remember when I got dragged to Snape's office after that quidditch match?" Harry checked, "How I said he yelled at me a bit, said it was rude, and stupid and out of bounds and stuff, gave me a detention?"

Hermione nodded slowly, Harry had said all of this before.

"Uh, then he started talking about how wizarding culture was different and stuff. And how they had different values to norma- to muggles. And then he started going on about discipline."

Hermione looked shocked, "Are you talking about corporal punishment? I thought they had stopped doing that at Hogwarts!"

Harry frowned, he wasn't sure if that had been what Snape had said. The implication however had been very clear. As had the demonstration. "He had a cane, Hermione. Says they give every first year a warning before they use it properly since they only use it in _extreme circumstances_. I mean, I don't know if that includes girls, but I'm pretty sure after last night that Malfoy's had it too…"

"Has he beaten you?"

"Only- he only hit me once. He says that's the warning, so that if you keep being bad then you know what to expect."

They sat in silence for about a minute, each filled with thoughts. Eventually Hermione stood up.

"You know who we should talk to about all of this? Ron's brothers. If anyone will know, it's them."

"That's true." Harry grinned back. "I'll go fetch them."

-...-

Harry knocked on the door to the third year's dormitory with some caution. It was a dangerous thing to wake the older students, and especially the Weasley twins (as Ron had proved on multiple occasions). Unluckily there was no response. Harry opened the door cautiously, peeking round the door.

Still no response.

"Uh." Harry said, eloquently. "Fred? George?"

"Go 'way." One bright orange lump said.

"Can I borrow you?"

"'S it to do with Ron owling Charlie?"

"Er… Yeah?"

Harry waited for the lump, or the orange heap in the next bed to respond. Neither did. There wasn't any movement from the other three beds either and Harry wondered if any of the five boys were actually going to go to breakfast.

"And Snape. I kinda have an appointment with him at breakfast, so I'm in a bit of a hurry."

Finally a brown eye cracked open.

"In his office?" There was a note of caution in the voice, Harry thought.

"Yeah."

"Okay, we'll bite. C'mon George." The heap – presumably Fred, although you never really knew with the twins, tunnelled under his duvet and emerged from the side of the bed, slithering onto the floor.

"Scram, Potter. We'll catch you in five in the great hall."

"We'll probably beat you there." Presumably George said, getting out of bed slightly more like a human being. He joined his brother at their shared trunk and fought briefly over a pair of boxers.

Harry blinked at the word choice, but disappeared obediently to drag Hermione to breakfast.

-...-

When they arrived at the table, they found a glum, but healthy Ron sitting there already, with a pile of bacon and a bandage around his hand.

"Hey guys," Ron said as the other two took their seats beside him.

"Pomfrey let you out then?" Harry asked, trying to seem cheerful.

"Nah, she would've kept me for the rest of the month if she could. Snape appeared in the middle of the night and did something to fix my hand, and then came to drag me to breakfast this morning." Ron grimaced, and Harry figured his friend had been read the riot act too.

"Good morning, Hermione, Harry, Brother ours." One of the twins said, as they both sat on the other side of the table.

"Looks like we didn't beat you down here." The other followed up.

Harry and Hermione flinched.

"Oh look, Fred." Said George. "You were right, they _do_ know about 'the Other Punishment'."

"What other punishment?" Ron asked, bewildered.

"We _did_ tell you why we don't mess around in potions and transfiguration, Ronny." George smirked. "They make it a pain in the ass."

Ron grimaced, and then looked horrified a moment later. "Snape's does it? I thought they'd call mum!"

"Every time?"

"Mum hasn't got the time-"

"Or the floo powder-"

"To get to Hogwarts that often."

Fred and George grinned at each other and then laughed at the look on the first year's faces.

"Would you two stop it?!" Hermione burst out. "You're not helping."

"You woke _us_ up at half six." Fred pointed out. "We figured you wanted to know what to expect."

The first years nodded, reluctantly. Harry glanced up at the head table out of nervousness and saw Snape watching them with an amused expression. A quick look at the other side of the hall showed that Malfoy was up already too, picking gloomily through the plate of food in front of him. It didn't look like he'd eaten much. Mind you, Harry hadn't touched any food yet. Although he felt slightly queasy, he took some toast from the rack in front of them.

"You'll have to tell us what you did first." Fred grinned, "And what you've been caught doing before, since you're first years."

"We smuggled a baby dragon onto the astronomy tower and arranged for it to be picked up by some friends of your brother Charlie. We haven't been _caught_ doing anything else exactly, apart from Harry. He was caught in the Forbidden Forest by Snape and that business with the Remembrall, which Professor McGonagall has forgotten, but Professor Snape probably hasn't. We aren't certain what else he knows. Oh, except that Ron got bitten by the dragon and lied about it for a week."

The twins stared at her for a moment, before leaning across the table and tousling Ron and Harry's hair. They looked at Hermione's before deciding it was bushy enough already, and conjured a cloud of glitter to fall over her shoulders instead. She yelped an objection which was thoroughly ignored.

"We knew you had it in you!" Fred said, "Good on you, Ron – you'll be getting Howlers from mum regularly if you keep this up. Try to not get landed in the Hospital wing for a week next time though."

"Although we were a little worried you'd end up another Percy for a while there. No offence Perce-"

This last was to their other brother who had looked up from a book he was reading, frowning upon hearing his name. He looked suspicious, and vanished Hermione's glitter for her, with a stern look at his brothers.

"Sounds like only Harry has anything to worry about." Fred continued. "Snape'll bring out the cane – McGonagall uses a strap, but if it's Snape who caught you, then he'll probably do it. And he'll give a long scary speech-"

"And wave the cane about to scare you. Then he'll say that it's a warning and whack you with it once."

"Hard." Harry confirmed.

"He'll probably hit Harry a few more times since he's already had the first-years' warning."

"But he won't hit you as hard each time, unless you've really hurt someone."

"Oh, and don't use anything magical to try to fix it afterwards-"

"But you can make up a bag of ice in the Great Hall at lunch."

The five of them sat in silence for a few minutes. The first years taking small nibbles of food. The twins had no such compunctions and happily filled their plates since they had had to get up for breakfast anyway – Ron's appetite was severely diminished now he knew what was in store for them and his brothers took advantage of this by stealing the bacon off his plate, despite the platters around them still being full.

It slowly moved around to half past seven, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were still startled when the Weasley twins' heads jerked up in unison.

"Good morning, Professor Snape."

The first years spun in their seats to look up at the looming figure of their Potion's Master.

"Morning Weasley, Weasley." Snape nodded at them. "Planning to act as role models this morning, are we?"

The twins grinned, carefree.

"Not us, Professor. You should take Percy – mum always says he's the best role model."

Percy Weasley spluttered indignantly from his seat, but Snape ignored him anyway, beckoning instead to the three first years, who climbed, slightly shaky, from their bench. Malfoy appeared beside Snape, seemingly more willing to go to the man than to be summoned to join his rivals.

-...-

Snape stood before the four students in his office, glaring down his nose to look at the small first years. He noted that Potter and Granger met his eyes uncomfortably, while Malfoy and Weasley stared firmly at the buttons on his chest.

Knowing full well that the Weasley twins would have informed their housemates about the procedure for these punishments, and that Draco had personal experience, he got to the point.

"You all know why you are here, I will send for you one at a time and we will discuss your punishment, and likely enact it."

Granger looked pale, he thought. Ah, muggleborn, of course. Additionally he suspected she rarely got into trouble off her own bat before. It was a shame, the professors had thought that making friends with Potter and Weasley would be good for her. It still might. It was good that she was nervous, it might discourage dragon smuggling and troll hunts in the future.

He let them squirm for a moment. Weasley looked uncomfortable, but no longer un _well_ – the stupid boy. Potter looked unhappy, but resigned to the idea, an unusual reaction for a first year. And Draco was petrified, but managing to hold together quite well at the moment. That was most pressing.

"You three out." He waved dismissively at the Gryffindors. "And no talking in the corridor. Malfoy, stay."

Draco's eyes closed for a long moment and didn't re-open until the door closed behind the others. He peeked up at Snape cautiously.

"Why are you here?"

"Because I didn't go to you first."

"And?" Snape demanded. "We have spoken about this at length, I expect a better answer than that."

"And because I didn't tell you when I found out. And I went out after curfew," Draco mumbled.

Snape walked to his desk, away from the boy and pulled a large ledger across to himself, flicking it open to the page for this year's Slytherins.

It wasn't particularly full, from what Draco could see. The page wasn't even half filled, although it was closer to the middle than it had been back when Draco had first seen it after Hooch's first flying lesson, and fuller still than when he had been caught out of bed by Snape on his way to watch Potter be caught by Filch. That had been a bad month.

"Three strokes, I believe." Snape said, scratching something in the book with a white goose feather. "Are you agreeable?"

Draco pulled a face. He had objected – strongly – after the last episode. Once he realised how much the bloody cane hurt. But Snape had simply fire-called his father and explained the situation, and Father had done nothing. Except promise to stop his mother from sending his sweets for the week.

She had done it anyway, of course.

"Yes, Sir." He mumbled. Disagreeing would probably only make it worse since he didn't have any reasonable excuses.

"Then write your initials here." Snape pointed to the spot on the book, next to where the man had written 'breaking curfew, endangerment with a dangerous animal -three'.

Draco frowned a little, he hadn't been the one dragging the dragon through the castle. But he supposed he could see where the man was coming from, or could see that Father would see. He signed.

"And you have already lost points for Slytherin."

Draco nodded, his housemates had not been happy to wake up to the news they had lost 40 points.

"What will you do differently next time?" Snape asked, regarding the boy carefully.

"What? Tell you, I suppose."

"Really, is that what you would do?"

Draco thought for a moment. Snape wasn't like the other professors, he saw straight through those Gryffindor prats. Snape didn't fall for the muggleborn's know-it-all attitude either.

"Yes," He said cautiously, meeting the professor's eyes. He wouldn't promise that he would help out Weasley if he did something that stupid again. And he wouldn't promise that he wouldn't tell anyone else too, or say when he would tell the man. But it did seem like a better option than this. And of course, he wouldn't promise to not leave the common room at night either – or wouldn't keep that promise.

"Very well, let us get to it."

-...-

In the corridor, the three Gryffindors were leaning against the walls, glancing around nervously for any rogue Slytherins, and sharing awkward sympathetic looks.

Harry was a little surprised that this hadn't happened after they found the troll. And his thought that McGonagall was going to fetch a cane after the remembrall incident didn't feel so silly either, now.

The door to the office opened, and Malfoy emerged, looking uncharacteristically subdued. To their relief, he wasn't crying, and he seemed to still be in one piece. He set off down the corridor with an almost unnoticeable limp.

"Granger."

They all looked up, forgetting Malfoy. Snape was holding the door open still, and cut an imposing figure. Hermione took a steadying breath, but walked through the door confidently enough, although Harry noticed that her hands were trembling where they clutched at the sleeves of her jumper.

"No talking." Snape reminded them. He let the door close with a snap, making both boys flinch.

"Bloody hell." Ron moaned, spinning around to kick the dungeon wall.

Harry smiled at him, reassuringly, he hoped. A glance down the corridor showed that Malfoy was long gone. He hadn't looked so bad, Harry thought to himself. Maybe he was making a mountain out of nothing. At least it had been over fast, Malfoy had to have been in there for less than ten minutes.

"Miss Granger, the staff had rather hoped you were the sensible one in your little faction." Snape said, staring stonily down at her.

She didn't reply, but did meet his eyes, which made him happier. He couldn't stand it when children avoided eye contact.

"You are developing a rather unpleasant tendency towards the stupid side of Gryffindors." He added, noting the flinch at the word stupid. Good, that might be the motivation she needed. "Do you think it is clever to get into these situations? Lying to your teachers, endangering other students with magical creatures. Setting fire to people?"

A bigger flinch. Better. He had thought it was her, but this confirmed it. He recognised that same bluebell flame from when he had confiscated one of Potter's library books.

"Miss Granger, we had hoped that once you had settled into a group, you would no longer feel the need to show off with these acts of recklessness." Granger's eyes slid away from his eyes, probably to focus on his buttons. Oh well, she was only a first year, bravery could only take you so far.

"I will not even mention the troll incident, except to ensure you realise that we are well aware none of you went to find that troll intentionally. And to assure you that had we known you would take this as encouragement to act in such ways, you would have found yourself in this position months ago."

Granger swallowed thickly. Snape thought that her eyes looked suspiciously shiny and did not want to deal with a bawling first year. Time to get to the point.

"Granger, you understand we implement corporal punishment at Hogwarts?"

"Yes, Sir." She met his eyes again, cautiously.

"Each head of house is authorised to do so, and we keep a record of this. Mostly this entails a cane over a clothed backside. If you have any concerns over impropriety, you may take these to any member of staff, or contact your parents, of course." Snape spoke in a very matter-of-fact manner, and Hermione flushed, but she was not quite so embarrassed as she had expected. Really it had been worse when he had been telling her off.

"Details are recorded in this ledger, first year students receive a warning meeting – such as this- and henceforth can expect canings to entail three to six strokes until fourth year, and four to twelve thereafter."

"Yes Sir."

"Good. Empty out your back pockets, and remove your outer robe." Snape turned a couple of pages in the ledger and wrote out a similar line to Draco's, adding of course the FYW code. He held out the quill without looking back. "Sign here if you are happy to continue."

He heard the small huff given by every child at the word 'happy' in that context, and smirked. Small fingers took the quill from his hand and she scanned the page, signing quickly. He picked up the cane from where it rested on the desk, and the girl went very still. Obviously, she hadn't seen it yet. He gave her a moment to contemplate it, before he moved, explaining to her how to stand at the table.

She did as he asked, looking very unhappy about it.

There was no more preamble, he lined the cane up as he always did, by tapping it against the cloth of her trousers and hit out quickly and firmly.

Crack!

Hermione yelped, not having expected the pain, somehow. The cane was placed quickly upon the desk, and she felt better knowing that the professor no longer held it.

"You may stand up." Snape said shortly, withdrawing about a metre away. Hermione did, cautiously.

"What would you do differently if this happened again?" Snape asked, with no little curiosity.

"Convince Hagrid to get help from the school staff." Hermione said easily, answer ready. "Or else arrange for him to deliver the dragon to the astronomy tower, or for those men to come down to the hut to collect it."

Snape frowned, "The first of those is the correct answer, Miss Granger. Or else convince a member of staff that Mr Hagrid requires aid."

Hermione nodded, "That too, Professor."

"You may go," Snape said, "Do try to keep yourself out of this situation in future. And know that I will take a very dim view if you endanger anyone in this castle with reckless use of magic, or magical creatures. I should inform you that the only two expulsions from Hogwarts in the last eighty years have been due to threatening student life with a dangerous creature."

Granger nodded yet again, but Snape doubted she was listening anymore after hearing the word 'expelled'.

"Send in Weasley next." He said shortly. She vanished.

-...-

Harry waited, feeling slightly abandoned as Hermione disappeared down the corridor in the opposite direction to Malfoy. Ron had just been sent into the office and Harry was the last one standing.

Harry was decidedly not looking forward to Snape's reaction. The man had only hit him two weeks ago, and Harry was already back for doing the same thing, but worse. He wondered where all of his good intentions to avoid the cane had disappeared to, and how he had thought they could carry a dragon through the middle of Hogwarts without being caught.

Especially when he had known that Malfoy knew all about the dragon, and the arrangements to get rid of it.

Harry checked his watch for the third time in as many minutes. He wished they would get a move on. He just wanted to get back to Gryffindor tower to collect his things before their first lesson. It felt much worse, waiting while he knew his friends were being hurt.

Harry was still glancing at his watch when the door opened again and Ron practically stumbled out. He looked fine, Harry thought, if a bit red in the face. Ron grimaced at Harry before heading back towards the stairs, rubbing his backside.

"Come, Potter."

Harry did, trying to look less concerned than he felt. He closed the door behind him carefully. Snape instantly summoned him over to sign the ledger. Harry's stomach dropped, the neat little black _four_ , stood out from the page.

"Take off your robe and stand there," Snape gestured to a spot in front of himself, where he could comfortably observe Harry while leaning back against the desk himself.

"Why are you here?"

Harry thought for a moment about what answer the man wanted.

"Because I was out of bounds again, and we tried to take the dragon through the school."

"Why?"

Harry blinked. "To help out Hagrid."

"And did you?"

"Yes!" Harry reconsidered, McGonagall had seemed quite annoyed at Hagrid the night before and Harry suspected the man was going to get into bother for involving the trio with the dragon. "Well, sort of. Norbert isn't going to burn down the hut anymore, and nobody else will be bitten."

"Yet Hagrid is in trouble, isn't he?" Snape pressed, "And your friends are in trouble. Mr Weasley was hurt because none of you would tell the truth, and he missed a good deal of class unnecessarily. Miss Granger now feels punished for trying to impress you both. And you are back here. Within two weeks of my warning you. In fact, I discovered you begun to plan this mess a matter of days after our last discussion."

The man's voice became stern towards the end of his diatribe and Harry looked away, biting his lip. Four, he thought, unhappily.

"Next time, what will you do?" Snape demanded, and Harry reluctantly looked back up.

He shrugged.

"An answer, if you please."

"I don't know, sir." Harry said, honestly. "Tell someone?"

"Not good enough." Snape said, "Who? When? What if you are asked not to?"

Harry shrugged again, helplessly. "As soon as Malfoy knew." He said reluctantly. "We were never going to get away with it after that. We could have insisted Hagrid tell someone. Or got him to owl Charlie instead."

"That is one answer" Snape nodded. "It took you too long, however, and it is not the preferred course of action, although I suspect it was honest. You will write me an essay of no less than a foot, detailing three ways you could have dealt with this situation. You obviously need to put more thought into the matter."

Harry sighed, which spurred Snape into standing up. The man picked up the cane and tapped it on the desk expectantly. Harry grimaced and got into place. He felt less awkward this time around. He felt his wand being plucked from the back pocket of his oversized school trousers, and it was placed beside his hands.

"Remember, you are not to move before I tell you you may."

"Sir."

He felt the cane lightly against his backside, then it moved away and came down fast, with a whoosh.

Crack!

Harry groaned through his teeth, and pushed his forearms against the wooden desk. His arms were nowhere near long enough to reach the other side, although he wished he could to hold on tighter.

Thwack.

"Ah!" So much for Fred and George's assurances that Snape wouldn't hit him as hard. Harry was only glad that Snape hadn't hit the same place again.

Crack!

Harry groaned again, taking a deep breath, and forcing himself to relax. Flinching each time was hurting nearly as much as the hit itself.

"Almost there, Potter."

Harry couldn't respond. The cane tapped against him, in a new spot before a woosh.

Thwack!

The cane appeared by Harry's elbow, and Snape gave him leave to move when he wanted. Although it was Harry's instinct to get up and out of there as fast as possible, it was a few moments before he could summon the will to move.

Harry let out a hiss of held breath as he stood up slowly.

Snape was once again standing back - unobtrusively for him.

"Do try to not be back here, Potter."

"Yes, Sir."

"On you go, I want that essay by Friday."

If you are enjoying this story, please check out my story about a fourth year Dumbledore. Thank you for reading, there should be a couple more chapters to this story.


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